SUSANNA Liew, the wife of missing pastor Raymond Koh, hopes that newly minted Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will help her and the families of several missing activists gain closure.

Liew said she was very disappointed with the previous administrations as nothing was really done to solve the enforced disappearance of these activists.

“They didn’t take the investigations (on Koh and others) seriously. They (authorities) have been very quiet.

“We can’t wait any longer. It has been five years since Koh’s disappearance and we are still waiting for closure,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Liew believes the new government would be able to resolve the issue as the government has vowed to be inclusive, fair and to champion human rights.

“I hope things will look better going forward.”

Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim was recently sworn in as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister.

International human rights laws define an enforced disappearance as when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organisation, or by a third party with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of a state or political organisation.

Koh was abducted by masked men in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on February 13, 2017.

Similarly, activist Amri Che Mat disappeared on November 24, 2016, after leaving his home in Kangar, Perlis.

A public inquiry conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) concluded that the two were abducted by the special branch of the federal police headquarters, in a case that Suhakam described as enforced disappearance.

In 2019, then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin ordered a special task force to look into Suhakam’s findings.

The task force was given six months from June the same year to do the job and the report was supposed to be released in December 2020.

Liew said the report of the special task on Koh’s and Perlis activist Amri’s disappearance needs to be addressed by Anwar’s administration as the families and public need a conclusion to their findings.

She said that she would be seeking the assistance of Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok to get an audience with Anwar early next year.

She also hoped the government would look into the recommendations of Suhakam in its final decision on the accountability of the police force.

“I believe they (authorities) should take the recommendations seriously and put them into action.”

On April 15, 2021, Suhakam found that pastor Joshua Hilmy and his Indonesian wife Ruth Sitepu were also victims of enforced disappearance.

The public inquiry panel, led by Suhakam chief commissioner Hishamudin Yunus, however, could find no evidence that state agents were involved in the disappearances.

The disappearances of Ruth, Joshua, Koh, and Amri remain Malaysia’s most high-profile missing persons cases. – December 4, 2022.